Tuesday, February 4, 2014

December 27, 2013

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

I
hope you had a wonderful Christmas! I loved hearing all about your
Christmas. It sounds really neat. Christmas was good here at the MTC.
Very busy but awesome. I wrote in my journal that "today was a Christ
filled Christmas." Which was so cool. I have never had a Christmas that
was completely focused on Christ. So it made it really neat. I feel a
greater appreciation for the Atonement and for Christ's birth after
celebrating Christmas this
way.

On
Christmas Eve, we had regular classes all day, then that night we had a
devotional. David F. Evans of the Seventy came and spoke to us. He
taught us all about letters from Mormon to Moroni and read us letters
that his father sent to him on his mission. He taught of the importance
of letters and the impact they have on people and the missionary work
that can come from them. He told us stories from his mission and talked
about being good missionaries. It was really cool. I mentioned that all
the missionaries sang silent night that night and the spirit was so
strong. It was incredible. I could barely sing because of the
overwhelming feeling of the spirit. It was so peaceful. Anyways, after
the devotional, we watched the Nativity and Mr. Krueger's Christmas.

As
we were walking back to our dorms, we all took pictures by the lights
and sang Christmas songs like
Feliz Navidad and I'll be
home for Christmas.... (hahah) and stuff like that. We had a blast. We
went to the dorms and popped pop corn and opened our new pj's. We went
up to the front desk to get something so we took pictures by the big map
in our christmas pj's. (we had permission cause they wanted the
packages to get picked up) hahah (I know every missionary has taken a
picture by that map pointing to their mission, but how many people have
taken a picture by that map in their pajamas?) haha so anyways we had a
ton of fun.

On
Christmas morning, we went and got breakfast and then studied. We had a
talent show and it was a lot of fun. We had a devotional and Elder
Bednar and his wife came and spoke to us. It was really neat. Elder
Bednar made it a question- answer type of meeting. So he passed out 200
cell phones to the missionaries and we texted in questions to his ipad
and he answered as many as he could. It was cool. He talked about
feeling
inadequate as missionaries but also about the enabling power of the
Atonement that allows us to do hard things. I definitely needed to hear
that because I feel so inadequate to do the Lord's work. Sister Bednar
gave us some great advice. She said "Remember who you are. Remember that
you represent your name. Remember that you represent your family name.
Remember that you represent our church. And remember that you represent
our Savior." I loved that. She gave a great talk. After the devotional
with Elder and Sister Bednar, we had lunch and then some other programs
throughout the day. At the end of the day we watched the Tabernacle
Choir Christmas Concert. It was a busy but great day. A day I will never
forget.

We
had a devotional on sunday, with Brother Randall, who is the director
of Administration of the Missionary department. He talked about focusing
everything on others and loving our investigators.
We watched a
clip of The District, and then he had Sister Payne, who was one of the
missionaries on the district come and talk to us about loving our
investigators and yielding to the spirit. Brother Randall also talked
about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love for us. He said "Remember
Christ's love for us-- especially when we are unsure, confused, or
bewildered about the future. Remember God loved us so he sent his son.
He still holds a place for us in His heart." It was a really neat
meeting. The devotionals are always awesome.

My
classes are good. Korean is coming along. Very slowly. haha I can now
say my testimony in Korean without having to read it! So i am excited
about that. We have been teaching a few pretend investigators and that
has been good. We always teach a lesson and then each of us share our
testimony to the investigator. Our testimonies are very simple. But
testifying always brings the
spirit. It is really neat.
Yesterday we practiced contacting. It was actually really hard! We
would have scenarios and then have to strike up a conversation (this is
all in Korean) and then lead into the gospel and ask if we could meet
with them later on. It was so hard! and in major broken Korean. But I
realized that I know a lot more than I think I do. I think the more we
practice that, the easier it will become.

Every
sunday we have a guest speaker come and talk to us for relief society.
This week we had a lady named Laura F. Willis. She gave a great talk
about the true meaning of Christmas. She also spoke about giving the
best gifts for Christmas. She taught us that if our lives are centered
on Christ, then nothing can ever go wrong. We watch music and the spoken
word every sunday morning and I love that. It is always so peaceful
listening to the Tabernacle Choir.

One
of the biggest things
I miss is just being able
to sit down and play the piano! Luckily I have been playing the hymns
in Sacrament meeting so that has been kind of fun. It gives me an excuse
to go play the piano sometimes. It is a little tricky when Everyone is
singing in Korean though! It's really cool though :) Mom, could you
possibly send me some LDS sheet music that I could play? Nothing too
hard because I don't have a ton of time to practice. But that would be
great! I think Sister Glauser and I are going to play a song together.
She plays the violin so I will play the piano while she plays the
violin. Maybe audition to play in a devotional or something like that.
Anyways, all of that being said, D-man, bunnies. keep practicing! I miss
playing the piano a lot.

Mom and
Dad- thank you for all of the letters. Every piece of mail makes my day!
So thank you! I love you so much! Mom happy December 28th! I will be
thinking about you the whole day. Have fun shopping
with the
girls today! I love you so much. Thank you for being the best mom in
the world.

Ratch- keep me updated on everything! I love
hearing about your cute dates with Jacob. Thank you for the quotes you
send. And the talks! They are just what I need to hear. Please keep
sending things like that! Sorry every elder in my Zone is writing you.
Seriously they all want to write you. Ignore them if they are annoying.
They all make jokes like "All I want is mail from the Anderson house"
hahah so dumb. you can totally ignore them. sorry. haha

D-man-
congrats on the Basketball championship! That's awesome. I am so glad
you beat Kaysville. I still have bad feelings towards kaysville ever
since they always killed farmington in basketball. Way to de-throne
them. hahah. Keep me updated on BYU sports! I can't believe that the
Utes worked BYU in basketball. So sad. haha :( Tell me how the bowl game
is
tonight.

Jane
Catherine!
Thanks for the cute email! I am so happy you and Ellie made the
Centennial Basketball team! How neat is that?! Tell me all about it. I
hope you had a great Christmas! What did you get for Christmas? Keep
updating me on your cute stories! I love love love getting letters from
you! And Happy Birthday on December 30th!! Have the best day ever!! Love
you so much!

Ellie Christine!
Thank you for such thoughtful letters you sent in my Christmas package!
It makes my day when you guys write me. Let me know how basketball
goes!! I think that is so cool that you made the team. I didn't even
make first cuts when I tried out. ha ha ha. How is school? Just kidding
don't think about school. it's christmas break. Have a good birthday!!! I
will think about you all day. Ps we still need to do our nails! :'( I
promise I wont forget. only 17 months and we'll do them ;)

Addie
Rose! I loved
your cute letter you sent! I
love when you tell me the story about the Big Friendly Giant. Keep
telling me what is happening ok? How is Rebecca? and your twin dolls?
What did you get for Christmas? Tell me everything! I hope you are doing
so good! I love you to the sun and back 10 times :)

Zeus!
Did Santa come on Christmas? I hope you remembered to turn off the fire
place because that was your job. Did you get a new bike for Christmas? I
can't wait to see it. Will you send me a picture of it? How is your
fort? Is is covered in snow? I saw a picture of you watching the Polar
Express. Remember how we watched that right before I left? That was so
fun. I hope you are being a good boy. Thanks for the cute pictures you
send me! I am going to send you a picture back. I love you! (ps- would
you rather be hulk or superman?) send me more would you rathers. I love
you more than all of the sand on the beaches!

Well
I need to go, but I love you
all so much! It
sounds like you had a great Christmas. I love you so much. Thanks for
being the best family ever! Keep doing missionary work. Send an email to
the lady from Israel. I will pray for you to know what you should say
to her. I know Heavenly Father will help you! Thank you for doing
service on Christmas Eve! I loved hearing all about it. That's the real
meaning of Christmas. Don't forget we are on 3 Nephi 13 today! Love you
so much! Thanks for all of the support!! xoxoxoxox